Switch-operating device.



No. 636,l32. Patented oetf'sl, I899. w. M. GOODELL.

SWITCH OPERATING DEVICE.

(Application filed Sept. 23, 1899.1

No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WESLEY M. GOODELL, OF BELCHERTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS.

SWITCH-OPERATING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 636,132, dated October 31, 1899.

Application filed September 1899. Serial No- 731,396. (N0 model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WESLEY M. GOODELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Belchertown, in the county of Hampshire and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Switch-Operating Devices forStreet-Oars, of which the following with the track-switch and means whose operation is consequent upon said primary movement for effecting the desired swingingofthe pivoted switch-point; and the invention consists in the peculiar construction and arrangement of said devices whereby said object is attained, all as hereinafter fully described, and more particularly pointedout in the claims.

In the drawings forming part of this specie .fication, Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of one end of a street-car, showing switch-operating devices applied thereto constructed according to my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view of a portion of acar-track,showing a switch-bed, and of the pivoted switchpoint thereon and illustrating the position of the point-actuating element of the car when applied thereto for swinging said point. Fig. 3 is an elevation of a portion of the end of a car and of the switch-operating devices thereunder.

Referring to the drawings, A indicates the platform of a street-car,and B one of the wheels thereof. Under said platform a shaft D is hung in suitable hangers E, one of which is shown in Fig. 3, which shaft extends over and a little beyond the tracks of the road, as indicated in said figure, where F indicates the rail and H the switch-tongue in section, the latter and its bed and a section of the rail beingshown in Fig. 2. Said shaftD is adapted to have a reciprocating rotary motion imparted thereto by means, first, of a foot-operated plunger-rod I, suitably supported in the floor of the said platform, which is pivotally connected to the extremity of an arm J, carried on said shaft D, and, secondly, the latter is retracted by a spring K, connected between said arm and the platform, thus fully effecting said reciprocating rotary movement. The switch-point-actuating element or elements of this device consist of two switch movers or shaft-s L L, carried on said shaft D, one near each wheel B of the car and in position over said track and switch as shown. Each of said switch movers or actuators consists of a suitable metallic bar-having on the upper end thereof an arm M at right angles to the body of the bar, either integral therewith or otherwise, and having on its lower end a somewhat-flattened foot N. (Shown in side view in Fig. 1, in front or edge View in Fig. 3, and in section in Fig. 2.) Said switch movers or actuators are supported in trans verse openings through said shaft D, in which they have free reciprocating rolling movements, a collar 0 on each holding them in vertical positions and allowing of their proper vertical adjustments relative to the said switch-point. A coil-spring P, one end of which is attached to said shaft D and the other to a collar R, secured on each switchmover L, serves a purpose below described. A fixed pin or bolt T is secured in a pending position under the platform, with which said arm M on said shaft L engageswhen the latter is swung bodily by the shaft D, as below described.

.The operation of the above-described devices is as follows: When a car arrives at a place on the track in which a switch-point is foot just before the arm M strikes said pin or bolt T, and a slight further movement of the shaft D in the same direction, whereby said arm is forcibly driven against said bolt T, causes said switch-mover to be turned axially still farther, thereby bringing its said foot N IOO to the transverse position between said rail and switch-point, (illustrated in Fig. 2,) whereby the desired movement of said point is effected for guiding the car onto the required track. Following the last-named operation the said plunger is permitted to rise through the action of said spring K, bringing the parts connected with said shaft D back to those shown in full lines in Fig. 1, and the said mover L, being disengaged from said switch, is by said spring P rotated axially back to its normal position and its foot N to that shown in said last-named figure.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. Switch-operating devices for street-car tracks comprising a switch-point actuator having a foot for insertion between a rail and a pivoted switch-point, a reciprocally-rotating shaft hung under the platform of a car constituting a support for said actuator in which the latter may rotate reciprocally and move longitudinally, and means carried on the car through which an operator may impart the said motions to said shaft, and means through which the motions of said shaft induce, antomatically, the described movements of said switch-point actuator, substantially as described.

2. Switch-operating devices for street-car tracks comprisinga shaft supported under the platform of a car, means for operating said shaft for reciprocally rotating the same, one or more switch-point actuators each having a foot for insertion between a rail and a pivoted switch-point carried on said shaft, and each having an arm extending at right angles, said actuators being free for reciprocally rotating, and longitudinal movements on said shaft, means fixed on the car for engaging said arm or arms and intermediate of said shaft and actuators, whereby said reciprocally-rotating movements are induced, substantially as described.

3. Switch-operating devices for street-car tracks comprising ashaft supported under the platform of a car, an arm projecting from the side of said shaft, a plunger-rod connected to said arm and extending upwardly through said platform, a spring connected to said arm drawing the latter upwardly, a pending bolt under said platform, one or more switch-point actuators held in transverse perforations through said shaft, each having an arm thereon for engagement with said bolt, and a foot for insertion between a rail and a pivoted switoh-point,a retracting-spring between each of said actuators and said shaft, turning the actuators after withdrawal from said rail and point engagement, substantially as described.

\VESLEY M. GOODELL.

Witnesses:

H. A. CHAPIN, K. I. CLEMONS. 

